Fighting for Equity in Education

The struggle is long but hope is longer

Incorrect Enrolment Figures for Melba High School

When is The Canberra Times going to print anything accurate in relation to Melba High School?

The figure in today’s paper (6 Sept) about applications for 2007 is wrong. We have 167 applications for 2007 already (not 150 as reported).

This is down on last year but that figure was artificially inflated by the closure of Ginninderra High School. More significantly, the 167 applications that we have exceeds the projected enrolment figure for the School contained in the Government’s flawed 2020 document.

The Board at Melba have been saying all along that the document is based on dodgy figures – here is proof positive. Was the incorrect figure provided to the Times by the Department (which, we know, has the correct one)? Is this an indication that the government is trying to deliberately talk our school down at the same time as it is trying to close two of our feeder primary schools and amalgamate us with Copland College on a smaller site? Or is it just incompetence?

Melba’s numbers have been steadily increasing for years and there is no reason to move, close or amalgamate it.